As I have mentioned previously on this blog, I collect antique dolls as well as bathing beauties and sometimes my two interests intersect. This antique German bisque head doll wears a homemade and contemporary outfit. If her original mohair wig was a more masculine cut, she might be said to represent an Edwardian boy dressed in a shorts set, but the coiled braids leave no doubt she is intended to be a girl. In the early 1900s, such an ensemble for even a young girl would be appropriate only in the gymnasium or on the beach. There is an overlap between late Victorian/early Edwardian girls' bathing suit and exercise outfit, but I think her cute costume could well quality as swimwear. Of course trying to interpret a costume over a century after it was sewn is really just educated guesswork, as we have no way of knowing the creator's intent or the extent of his/her sewing skills.
She is 11 inches tall and is on a kid body with cloth legs. The shoulder plate is incised on the back only "Germany 16/0." I would attribute her to Ernst Heubach Koppelsdorf as I have seem similar heads by this company, including with a black upper eye line in place of painted eyelashes.
Her outfit certainly resembles this "Girl's Beach Frock" in a 1912 image from the New York Public Library digital collection. A shorter tunic and longer bloomers would transform the seaside frock into swimwear.
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